Home  ›  How to Fix Red Alert 2 Black Screen Windows 7

How to Fix Red Alert 2 Black Screen Windows 7

Written By Thursday, November 25, 2021 Add Comment Edit
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 cover
Developers
Westwood Pacific
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows October 25, 2000
Reception
Metacritic 84
Taxonomy
Monetization Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls Multiple select, Point and select
Genres RTS
Themes Europe, North America, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica, Sci-fi, Space
Series Command & Conquer

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 on HowLongToBeat

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 on IGDB

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 guide on StrategyWiki

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 on MobyGames

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 on Wikipedia

Icon overlay.png

Icon overlay.png

⤏ Go to series page
Command & Conquer 1995
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 1996
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor 1997
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun 1999
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 2000
Command & Conquer: Renegade 2002
Command & Conquer: Generals 2003
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars 2007
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 2008
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising 2009
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight 2010
OpenRA (unofficial) 2010
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection 2020
Renegade X (unofficial) EA

Contents

  • 1 Availability
    • 1.1 DLC and expansion packs
  • 2 Essential improvements
    • 2.1 Patches
    • 2.2 LAN patch (fan made)
    • 2.3 CnCNet YR Client
    • 2.4 Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection Fixed Launchers (Origin)
  • 3 Game data
    • 3.1 Configuration file(s) location
    • 3.2 Save game data location
    • 3.3 Save game cloud syncing
  • 4 Video
    • 4.1 Widescreen resolution
  • 5 Input
  • 6 Audio
    • 6.1 Localizations
  • 7 Network
    • 7.1 Multiplayer types
    • 7.2 Connection types
    • 7.3 Ports
  • 8 Issues fixed
    • 8.1 Game does not start (Origin)
    • 8.2 "player already have the same serial" error
    • 8.3 "***FATAL*** String Manager Failed to Initialize Properly" error
    • 8.4 Black screen with switchable graphics
    • 8.5 Game is purple/green colored and displays only on the other half of the screen
    • 8.6 Some Windows elements flicker from behind the game
    • 8.7 Lag/low FPS
    • 8.8 Game runs too fast
    • 8.9 Hero units in "Hollywood and Vain" mission lack their unique lines
  • 9 Other information
    • 9.1 API
    • 9.2 Middleware
  • 10 System requirements
  • 11 Notes
  • 12 References

Key points

Small but dedicated community.

General information

Command & Conquer Wiki - A wiki for everything Command & Conquer-related
Project Perfect Mod - The most expansive RA2 mod site.
CnCNet (multiplayer replacement; Yuri's Revenge expansion required)
XWIS (legacy multiplayer replacement, default server lookup leads to this service)
Red Alert 2 section on CNC.community
Red Alert 2 section on C&C Communications Center
Red Alert 2 section on CNCNZ.com
Yuri's Revenge section on CNCNZ.com

Availability [edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail

Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)

CD key

SafeDisc 2 DRM [Note 1]. The installer for the base game is also DRM-protected, but not the one for Yuri's Revenge.

Windows

Origin

Origin

Bundled with other games in the franchise up to Tiberian Twilight.
Included with EA Play.

Windows

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Yuri's Revenge Explicitly requires the base game to be patched to v1.006.
Bundled with the The First Decade and Ultimate Collection compilations.

Windows

Essential improvements [edit]

Patches [edit]

Patch 1.006 for Red Alert 2 fixes general bugs, network and exploit issues.
Patch 1.001 for Yuri's Revenge fixes bugs, crashes and a problem when multiple CD drives are plugged in.

LAN patch (fan made) [edit]

The LAN patch lets you play LAN on Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 (and their expansion packs) in Windows 2000 and later by changing IPX protocol to UDP.

CnCNet YR Client [edit]

Download link
Requires the Yuri's Revenge expansion version 1.001.
Includes a variety of custom graphics renderers, each fitting different configurations.
Settings changes apply to the main executables of Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge.

Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection Fixed Launchers (Origin) [edit]

An unofficial patch that provides a slight enhancement to the default launchers provided with the Origin release (fixes registry entries and allows command line arguments to function properly).

It can be downloaded from moddb.

Game data [edit]

Configuration file(s) location [edit]

Save game data location [edit]

Save game cloud syncing [edit]

Video [edit]

In-game options screen.

In-game options screen.

Widescreen resolution [edit]

For changing resolution open files RA2.ini and RA2md.ini with any text editor and type your resolution there: 

[Video] ScreenHeight=XXXX ScreenWidth=XXXX  or  Another way to change resolution is to add the line beneath the [Video] lines. AllowHiResModes=yes This will let you change the resolution in the game menu to any supported by your computer.

Where ScreenHeight and ScreenWidth are your desired resolution.

Input [edit]

In-game key map settings.

In-game key map settings.

Audio [edit]

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles Some non-English languages might have forced subtitles enabled.[3]
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Korean
Ukrainian Fan translation and full dubbing by TSF, download.

Network [edit]

In-game network settings.

In-game network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play 8 Uses IPX protocol. Requires LAN patch to be replaced with UDP.
Online play 8

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 3840, 4005, 4808, 4810, 4995, 7000-7002
UDP 1234-1237
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed [edit]

Game does not start (Origin) [edit]

Disable Origin In Game [citation needed]
  1. Select the My Games tab in Origin.
  2. Right-click Red Alert 2/Yuri's Revenge and select "Game Properties".
  3. Check the "Disable Origin in Game for this game" option.
  4. Click OK and launch the game.

"player already have the same serial" error [edit]

This issue may occur when using the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection version from Origin.
Add missing registry value [citation needed]
  1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Westwood\Yuri's Revenge
  2. Make a new string called Serial
  3. Enter anything as the string text (each player must have a unique entry).

"***FATAL*** String Manager Failed to Initialize Properly" error [edit]

Setting up compatibility settings [citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Right click on the Ra2.exe file and select "Properties".
  3. Go to the "Compatibility" tab and enable Compatibility Mode (set it to "Windows 98/ME") and "Run this program as an administrator".
    • The options in the normal Compatibility view cannot be selected. Click "Change settings for all users" to make the modifications.
  4. Apply the changes and launch the game.

Notes

This will fix the base game only. For Yuri's Revenge, repeat these steps for RA2MD.exe

Black screen with switchable graphics [edit]

This occurs when the game engine tries to render in VRAM.

Disable the Compatibility Mode of the game's RA.exe executable then copy the files from the .zip at https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases/latest to your Red Alert II installation folder, replacing those present. This also allows higher and wide-screen resolutions than the Agrit fix below.

If the problem persists only in Yuri's Revenge when exiting from playing to the menu, try to set 

renderer=opengl

in ddraw.ini, auto or direct3d9 may be causing the problem.

Another fix is to download Aqrit's ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder, where ra2.ini lies. Next, ensure that only these settings are set to "1" in aqrit.cfg: 

FakeVsync                = 1 NoVideoMemory            = 1

Alternatively, simply download and extract the contents of this preconfigured fix into the RA2 folder. Also, consider using the performance fix as well.

Game is purple/green colored and displays only on the other half of the screen [edit]

This happens sometimes on newer versions of Windows (7, 8, 8.1 and 10). To fix this, download Aqrit's ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder, where ra2.ini lies.

Some Windows elements flicker from behind the game [edit]

This happens if you have downloaded Aqrit's ddwrapper and extracted the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder and have set the ForceDirectDrawEmulation to "1". To fix this set ForceDirectDrawEmulation to "0": 

ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 0

Lag/low FPS [edit]

Modify the RA2.ini file [citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Open RA2.ini.
  3. Under the [Video] section, add VideoBackBuffer=No to a new line.
  4. Save the file and launch the game.

Notes

This will fix the base game only. For Yuri's Revenge, repeat these steps for RA2MD.ini
cnc-ddraw applies this fix
Use Command and Conquer Graphics Patcher[4]

Game runs too fast [edit]

Before using this fix, make sure the in-game "Game Speed" slider is adjusted properly.
"Normal" game speed is "Fast" 30FPS. "Real" speed is "Slow" 15FPS; 1 second in-game equals 1 second in real-life at 15FPS.
Use the -SPEEDCONTROL command line argument[5]
  • The launcher provided with the Ultimate Collection (Origin release) does not support custom launch options. Install the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection Fixed Launchers before using.
  • Apply the argument to a shortcut of the RA2Launcher.exe file.

Hero units in "Hollywood and Vain" mission lack their unique lines [edit]

Patch 1.01 cut the voice lines due to legal troubles
Use Hero voicelines restoration mod[6]

Other information [edit]

API [edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw 7
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware [edit]

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Westwood Online

System requirements [edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95 98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU) 266 MHz 450 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 350 MB
Video card (GPU) 2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7.0a compatible

Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES% , %PROGRAMDATA% , or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  2. ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
  3. ↑ Traditional Chinese version have forced subtitle enabled in-game
  4. ↑ http://www.stuffhost.de/files/cnc/CnCPatcher.html
  5. ↑ http://cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?topic=2132.0
  6. ↑ Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge - Hollywood and Vain Action Hero Voice Restore Mod - last accessed on 2020-01-25

How to Fix Red Alert 2 Black Screen Windows 7

Source: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Command_&_Conquer:_Red_Alert_2

Related Posts

0 Response to "How to Fix Red Alert 2 Black Screen Windows 7"

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel